Singular and plural nouns

Singular nouns

Nouns that refer to one person, place, animal, thing or idea are called singular nouns.

Example: House, Student, Belief, Planet, Player, Monument, Pigeon.

• The house is beautiful.
• Every student deserves a chance to succeed.
• Her belief in God is strong.
• Earth is our planet.
• He is a good soccer player.
• The monument is very tall.
• A pigeon is sitting on the bench.

Read also: Worksheet Singular & plural nouns

Plural nouns

Nouns that refer to more than one person, place, animal, thing or idea are called plural nouns.

Example: House – Houses       Student – Students         Belief – Beliefs        Planet – Planets   

                 Player – Players       Pigeon – Pigeons           Monument – Monuments

• Many houses are for sale in the neighbourhood.
• The students are studying for their exams.
• Everyone has their own beliefs and traditions.
• Our solar system has eight planets.
• The team has many talented players.
• The city is home to many historical monuments.
• There are many pigeons in the park.

Read also: Worksheet Singular & plural nouns

Formation of Plural Nouns (RULES)

When converting a singular noun to plural, follow these basic rules:

1. Add ‘-s’ to form the plural of most nouns. Singular and plural nouns

Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
chair	chairs	pencil	pencils
book	books	apple	apples
bird	birds	shop	shops
pen	pens	teacher	teachers
dog	dogs	art	arts

• Add ‘-es’ to form the plural of singular nouns that end in (s, sh, ch or x).

Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
bus	buses	tax	taxes
brush	brushes	fox	foxes
church	churches	loss	losses
box	boxes	match	matches
success	successes	plus	pluses

• For nouns ending in ‘-f ’ or ‘-fe’, change f to ‘v’ and add ‘-es’. Singular and plural nouns

Read also: Worksheet Singular & plural nouns

Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
self	selves	sheaf	sheaves
thief	thieves	knife	knives
leaf	leaves	wife	wives
cliff	cliffs	loaf	loaves
chief	chiefs	gulf	gulfs

• When a noun ends in a consonant and then ‘y’, convert ‘y’ to ‘i’ and add –es to create the plural.

Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
party	parties	dairy	dairies
victory	victories	baby	babies
Funny	funnies	city	cities
army	armies	lady	ladies
family	families	Kitty	kitties

• When a noun ends in ‘y’ and the letter before the ‘y’ is a vowel (a, e, i, o, u), the plural form is created by simply adding ‘-s’. Singular and plural nouns

Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
play	plays	delay	delays
money	moneys	valley	valleys
holiday	holidays	boy	boys
day	days	key	keys
essay	essays	monkey	monkeys

• Nouns ending in ‘o’ after a consonant become plural with ‘-es’. Singular and plural nouns

Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
buffalo	buffaloes	cargo	cargoes
tomato	tomatoes	veto	vetoes
hero	heroes	echo	echoes
torpedo	torpedoes	zero	zeroes
volcano	volcanoes	tornado	tornadoes

• Other nouns that end in o and are preceded by a consonant are made plural by just adding ‘s’

Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
photo	photos	ratio	ratios
studio	studios	ego	egos
logo	logos	tango	tangos
video	videos	embryo	embryos
piano	pianos	cello	cellos

• Some nouns change their central ‘vowel’ sounds when pluralized: Singular and plural nouns

Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
man	men	goose	geese
foot	feet	mouse	mice
child	children	ox	oxen
tooth	teeth	radius	radii
fungus	fungi	phenomenon	phenomena

Some words have a plural form that is identical to their singular form:

Singular	Plural
a cod	two cod
a deer	two deer
a fish	two fish
a sheep	two sheep
a shrimp	two shrimp
a trout	two trout

Since the singular and plural forms of these nouns are identical, the actual number of the
nouns can only be determined by subject-verb agreement or by the use of an indefinite article. For
example:
Singular: The deer was standing in the middle of the road.
Plural: The deer were moving across the field.
Singular: I saw a deer in the backyard.
Plural: I saw some deer in the backyard.
If one of these words is used as an object with a definite article, then the number is ambiguous.
For example:
Look at the deer! (one deer or many deer?)

• Plural Forms of ‘Foreign’ Words:
• Read also: Worksheet Singular & plural nouns

Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
alumnus	alumni	appendix	appendices/appendixes
focus	foci/focuses	hypothesis	hypotheses
analysis	analyses	index	indices/indexes
formula	formulae/formulas	automaton	automatons, automata
agenda	agendas	locus	loci
axis	axes	memorandum	memoranda
medium	media	datum	data
criterion	criteria	curriculum	curricula
stadium	stadia, stadiums	thesis	theses
basis	bases	terminus	termini, terminuses
stratum	strata	gymnasium	gymnasia, gymnasiums

• Some nouns have different ‘meanings’ in the singular and plural: Singular and plural nouns

Singular		Plural
advice	Counsel	advices	information
air	atmosphere	airs	affected manners
force	strength	forces	army
good	benefit	goods	merchandise
iron	a metal	irons	fetters
physics	medicine	physics	natural science
respect	regard	respects	compliments
return	coming back	returns	statistics

Singular and plural nouns worksheets

Common Noun- Practice worksheet click here

Proper Noun- Practice worksheet click here

Singular and plural nouns

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